ABSTRACT
Agency work, particularly when directed towards the human factor in a society, must clearly take account of the values, including the religious values, of any individual constituencies. Where an agency deals with the total person, as in the case of hospital workers, caregivers, counsellors and so forth, the interaction with human values acquires paramount importance. The sensibilities of the constituencies are to be safeguarded. Agency workers are instructed in the practice of tolerance. They are counselled that they might have their own values, but they must respect or tolerate the values of the constituency in which they work. This tolerance is usually based on the presumption that human value systems can be absolute. The purpose of this chapter is to propose that human values are never absolute but relative. Agencies should inculcate this understanding in their workers.
